Leicester 1 Aston Villa 0 - Report and pictures

Aston Villa couldn't do a Premier League double over Midlands rivals Leicester after they were undone by Paul Konchesky's winner.

[gallery]

The rock-bottom Foxes boosted their survival hopes with only their second league win of the campaign, against the woeful claret and blues.

Konchesky volleyed home the only goal of the game from 18 yards literally just before the break, giving City a vital advantage at half-time.

Both teams were down to 10 men by the finish, after Leicester's Matthew James and Villa's Ciaran Clark angrily clashed and were dismissed

Konchesky, who was controversially sent off at Villa last month before having the red card rescinded, proved to have the last laugh with his strike.

Only Guzan and poor finishing had stopped Leicester adding to their lead, as David Nugent missed two fine chances and James and Marc Albrighton were both denied.

Wretched Villa drew another blank - their fourth in a row in the league - to slip to 13th, three points above the bottom three.

And the visiting fans turned on manager Paul Lambert for the second game in a row, chanting for his head.

Albrighton was recalled against his former club, the winger making his first league start since October - and just second of the season - after leaving Villa in the summer.

Guzan and Gabby Agbonlahor were back in for Villa, as Shay Given and Jack Grealish dropped out. Leicester conjured the first chance of a quiet opening through Albrighton.

The winger's wonderful touch allowed him to scamper down the left and he slipped in a stretching Nugent, who could only stab wide from 12 yards.

Christian Benteke had the ball in the net after rounding goalkeeper Ben Hamer but was offside, as Villa tried to force the play with little success.

Agbonlahor lashed wide, but only after Nugent had wasted another golden opening on 27 minutes.

Anthony Knockaert's teasing cross was flicked on by Leonardo Ulloa, only for his strike partner to nod wide at the far post from four yards.

While Villa looked sharper on the ball, the Foxes had created the better chances and Nugent came close again four minutes before the break.

The striker found himself in a similar position to his goal at Liverpool this month, but fired a cushioned volley against the underside of the bar - and watched Ulloa head the rebound over.

But the Foxes finally took the lead on the stroke of half-time with Konchesky's first goal of the season.

Ulloa hooked the ball across goal and Alan Hutton could only head out to the defender, who fired an 18-yard volley in off a post.

Guzan kept the visitors in the game in the early stages of the second half with fine saves from James and Albrighton.

He turned James' header over after 52 minutes, before parrying Albrighton's fierce shot on the hour.

Villa, in contrast, were toothless, failing to rouse themselves after going behind and have now won just three times in 18 games in all competitions.

The anonymous Tom Cleverley fired a rare chance over from an angle with 20 minutes left and Leicester continued their profligacy when substitute Tom Lawrence shot over.

They almost paid the price with two minutes left when Aly Cissokho blazed wide from eight yards.

And the game sparked again in injury-time when Clark and James were dismissed.

James went in hard on Clark and the two grappled in the centre circle, after squaring up ,before both were shown straight red cards.

The pair clashed again at the mouth of the tunnel as they went off and had to be separated by stewards and coaching staff. Benteke then headed over at the death, as Leicester hung on for a deserved win.

[comments_cta header="What do you think?" text="Are Aston Villa on the slide under manager Paul Lambert?" button="Log in and start commenting"]